University of Minnesota Athletics
Blog Update 4: Swimming Hawaii Training Trip Blog
1/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
Over the next two weeks, the ninth-ranked Minnesota men's swimming team will make its annual pilgrimage to Honolulu, Hawaii for its winter training trip. In between grueling practices and hopefully trips to Hawaii's beautiful beaches, senior co-captain Josh Griffey will be submitting a blog charting the team's experiences on the Main Island.
Training Trip Blog: Day 14
Our visit to Hawaii has concluded and we are now in Federal Way preparing for our meet against Washington. We have had the opportunity to train at the pool in Federal Way twice already. It is an excellent facility and will give us the chance to put up some great times this weekend.
After some challenging practices and sets, including 60x50's at 200 pace and 60x100s at mile pace for the distance swimmers, the distance and sprint groups combined forces and completed our Goal 50s set. The set is 30x50s from a push on 1:30 broken into three sets of ten. The coaches set goal times for each swimmer individually, and the goal is to make all 30 50s at or under the goal times. For example, Ivan Gutesa's goal time for the 50 breast was 30.1, and Ray Betuzzi's goal time for the 50 free was 23.9. For every 50 that a swimmer misses, they must make them up at the end of the set. However, if a swimmer
misses more than two 50s, another swimmer who has finished their set may help the others make up their 50s by completing their goal times, ultimately, cutting down the remaining 50s in half. Its a challenging set that produces a lot of lactate, but the make up swims at the end of the set bring the whole team together and create a unique swimming experience that I've only found through swimming this set.
I've been reflecting on our training trip, and I'm sad to say that this will probably be the last opportunity that I will have to train at this level. I've been swimming competitively for nearly 14 years, and as my career comes to a conclusion, I'm glad to say that I've worked harder than ever before. Though a majority of the team is tired, broken down, and anxious to begin tapering, our tired bodies are only on the surface. Deep down we are returning home with stronger aerobic systems, more speed, and greater overall strength. A few weeks more of hard training and fine tuning and we will be prepared to rest and finish strong with a great championship season. The hard part is over, and it's time to swim fast.
Training Trip Blog: Day 8
We're passed the half way point of our training trip, and many of us are starting to feel the effects of heavy training. Everyone is tired and broken down, but our hopes of a successful end of the season drives everyone to continue working hard.
As I previously mentioned, we have been setting goal times for ourselves and are given the opportunity to attempt them at any time during practice. Jake Kittilstad stepped up first and swam an amazing 1:42 200 freestyle in the middle of practice. Jake's effort was just shy of his season best time, making his effort very impressive. The whole team climbed out and cheered him on as he swam his race by himself, and he became the first swimmer to achieve his goal time.
I also wrote about an infamous workout called the Janet Evans set. I've heard from many other friends and swimmers who have swam sets that they call "Janet Evans" sets which consist of ridiculous IM and Freestyle distances similar to how she must have trained. Supposedly this set came straight from Janet's training logs with the intervals adjusted. We did a 1,000-yard warm up and dove right into this set a few nights ago.
3x400 IM on 5:00
3x100 Fly on 1:15
3x500 Free on 5:30
3x100 Free on 1:05
3x400 IM on 4:45
3x100 Back on 1:15
3x500 Free on 5:20
3x100 Free on 1:00
3x400 IM on 4:30
3x100 Breast on 1:20
3x500 Free on 5:10
3x100 Free on :55
There are no resets between rounds, 9900 yards in total. I failed out somewhere between the second round of 500s and the third round of 400 IMs, took a short break, and continued through the set struggling to make the intervals on the final round. If Janet is reading this, my hat is off to you.
The team also made a trip to Waimea Bay on Oahu's North Shore on our single workout day. We were greeted with huge waves and great body surfing conditions. Then the team split, and a group of us went to a local shrimp farm for some fresh roadside shrimp. Then we went over to the Dole Plantation for fresh pineapple, ice cream, and all kinds of great local treats.
On Sunday we will be competing against the University of Hawaii. We're looking forward to seeing the Gopher fans who will be making the trip to cheer us on. Thanks for reading!
Training Trip Blog: Day 5
In my first entry, I stated that the championship portion of our season is just around the corner. For our middle distance and distance training groups, training begins to shift away from a focus on endurance and transitions into a strong emphasis on power and speed. The first three to four months of the season are spent
building an aerobic base, and for the most part, our aerobic base is almost complete. In the past year the sport has gotten so much faster that this year's emphasis on speed will be greater than ever. Our transition from endurance training to race training is a difficult but necessary part of the season.
This transition takes longer for some than others, however two of our standout athletes, Alex Wold and Ray Betuzzi, proved that they are ready to swim fast. Two nights ago we swam a stand up set of 6x200s on 10:00, all of which require all-out efforts. Alex finished the set with an amazing 1:53 in a 200 IM and Ray swam a 1:41 200 Free on their last repeats after putting up fast times on the first five 200s. These performances were especially impressive since they swam the fourth tough practice in a row for us.
The rest of our group swam very well, and we will all be training hard to achieve individual goals this week. Everyone in the middl distance and distance groups will be choosing a goal time for an event of our choice, and we need to swim that race and achieve that goal time during any point during or after any practice this week. The goal is to walk away from that swim and the trip with a time to be proud of, and with confidence that will push us through the rest of the season.
Aside from the hard training, most of our swimmers were able to make it to the Gopher favorite Makapu'u beach for some great waves after morning practice on our single day yesterday. While we are in Hawaii, we train twice a day for two days in a row, then swim a single workout on the third day. The single days offer a much needed afternoon to relax and enjoy the activities the island has to offer.
Many of us have been enjoying the local food as well. I'm a big sushi fan, but one of my favorite stops is the world famous Puka Dog stand. Aside from the great flavors of Hawaii, many of us continue to eat raw eggs, raw garlic, and other super-healthy foods in an effort to give us that extra advantage. With that said, trust that there are some interesting odors circulating around the pool.
Mahalo for reading and Aloha!
Training Trip Blog: Day 5
Happy New Year Gopher fans, and thanks for taking the time to read my Hawaii blog. I will be updating this over the course of our training trip and hopefully others on the team will be able to contribute. We arrived on December 30th at about 4:00 p.m., but didn't make it to the hotel until around 6:00. Most of us are living two to a room at the Four Forty-Four hotel, and we were all greeted with a box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts upon check-in. We hit the ground running with two tough practices on the 31st, and spend most of our down time resting and preparing for the next workout.
I am frequently asked why we go to Hawaii for a training trip. Do we really need to go to Hawaii for two weeks? We're already blessed with one of the best pools in the country. People in Hawaii raise their eyebrows at all of the Minnesota gear that floods the streets and the beaches, and often ask how the weather is up North. Us Gophers are indeed out of our element, especially during this time of year. However, training trip means much more than a hundred-degree temperature difference, especially for the Gophers. It's a chance to develop camaraderie among teammates. It's a chance to train free from the distractions of school, competition, and snow shoveling. (Assistant Coach) Bill reminded us today that we are 57 days away from the Big Ten Championships, so this opportunity is necessary for us to push ourselves harder than we have trained all season since the championship portion of our season is just around the corner.
This unique opportunity to train means a lot for a team like ours. When I look at our team, I don't see a team with the most amount of talent in the country. We struggle to recruit high profile freshmen with natural speed. The great success of our program is rooted in the coaches' abilities to develop swimmers into athletes with champion attitudes and great success through old fashioned hard training. I chose Minnesota based on the team's reputation as one of the hardest working programs in the country, and while on training trip, our team is certainly put to the test.
With that said, we're just about to head out to practice. New Year's Day always means a special workout. Last year it was the Janet Evans set, and if we don't do that today, it's definitely around the corner soon. Today also means a hike up the Diamondhead crater for the first-timers. I'll probably be spending some time on the beach after practice, and hopefully the left over fireworks shells will be cleaned up after last night's celebrations. Thanks for reading! Go Gophers!
Josh
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